Fun & Fitness over 50

As I mentioned in a previous entry, I just took up downhill skiing last year although I have been cross-country skiing since I was in my 20s. My reluctance to try downhill stemmed from several reasons, not the least of which was cost. Equipment and lift tickets can get very expensive. New boots can run into 7 or $800 and skis anywhere from 500 to $1000 (I know they can get much more expensive but this is just what I see as the midrange in shops and ski magazine reviews, etc.)
Lift tickets run $50 to over $70 per day at the major resorts. Too rich for my blood! Last year we spent $330 skiing not including gasoline and that was 7 times for me and 8 for my wife. That includes rentals for me each time plus two lessons for me. We've gone twice so far this year and spent about $380 on equipment and $0 on lift tickets. Here's what we did.

1. Someone turned us on to Warren Miller films last year. Warren Miller has been making one ski film a year for the last 50 years! We paid $22 each for the movie. With that you get coupons for 4 or 5 free lift tickets to resorts in your part of the country plus a free subscription to a ski magazine and a discount coupon to a local ski shop. I'm sure the giveaways vary depending on your venue. One free lift ticket pays for the movie 2 or 3 times over. Can't beat it. Plus the movies are great. Click here for the website.

2. This year we attended the Ski and Snowboard Expo here in Albany, NY. For the $6 admission we got one free lift ticket and 2 buyonegetonefree coupons. There are other chances to win lift tickets and prizes like skis too. Plus there are good deals to be had on new and used equipment and clothing. Check out similar events in your part of the country.


3. I bought my own equipment this year. I got a used pair of skis for $129 and new boots for $189. I got mine from a regular ski and bike shop but I saw skis on Craig's List for $40! Make sure you get parabolic (curved) skis and not the old straight sided kind. The is also a chain here called Play It Again Sports that sells used stuff. My wife got her skis there last year for $149.

4. There are always some small, family oriented local hills that have cheaper lift tickets, especially later in the season. Last year's spring season was awesome here in the east. We found $20 lift tickets in March. A nephew worked at a great resort in Vermont last year and we got $10 tickets on employee appreciation day. Sadly, he does not work there this year. :-(
We used our 2 for 1s at a place that had $30 tickets in March.

I could go on and on but the bottom line is, if you really want to ski (and you live in an area that gets snow ;-) search around and you can find a way to do it.

The Ski Bum's Guide is free and it's a fun read with some usable ideas (but watch out, some ideas, as the author's readily admit, are borderline or outright illegal or may get you banned from the resort).

So I hope I have helped with some good ideas. If you have any ideas that I haven't mentioned, please leave them in a comment. I'd love to hear it!

Carve it up!